Bygland Church

Bygland Church (Norwegian: Bygland kyrkje) is a parish church of the Church of Norway in Bygland Municipality in Agder county, Norway. It is located in the village of Bygland on the eastern shore of the Byglandsfjorden, just alongside the Norwegian National Road 9. It is one of the churches for the Bygland og Årdal parish which is part of the Otredal prosti (deanery) in the Diocese of Agder og Telemark. The white, wooden church was built in a cruciform design in 1838 by the builder Anders Thorsen Syrtveit who used plans drawn up by the famous architect Hans Linstow. The church seats about 250 people.[1][2]

Bygland Church
Bygland kyrkje
View of the church
58.8305°N 07.7958°E
Location	Bygland Municipality, Agder
Country	Norway
Denomination	Church of Norway
Churchmanship	Evangelical Lutheran
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	13th century
Consecrated	18 Nov 1838
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Architect(s)	Hans Linstow
Architectural type	Cruciform
Completed	1838
Specifications
Capacity	250
Materials	Wood
Administration
Parish	Bygland og Årdal
Deanery	Otredal prosti
Diocese	Agder og Telemark
Norwegian Cultural Heritage Site
Type	Church
Status	Automatically protected
ID	83977

History

The earliest existing historical records of the church date back to the year 1316, but the church was not new that year. In 1669, the old stave church was torn down and replaced with a new building. Not much is known about that building.[3]

In 1814, this church served as an election church (Norwegian: valgkirke).[4] Together with more than 300 other parish churches across Norway, it was a polling station for elections to the 1814 Norwegian Constituent Assembly which wrote the Constitution of Norway. This was Norway's first national elections. Each church parish was a constituency that elected people called "electors" who later met together in each county to elect the representatives for the assembly that was to meet in Eidsvoll later that year.[4][5]

In 1838, the church building was torn down and a new cruciform building was constructed on the same site.[3] The new church was consecrated on 18 November 1838 by the local provost, Ole Berg, from Evje Church.

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See also

• List of churches in Agder og Telemark

References

1. "Bygland kirke". Kirkesøk: Kirkebyggdatabasen. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
2. "Oversikt over Nåværende Kirker" (in Norwegian). KirkeKonsulenten.no. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
3. "Bygland kyrkjestad" (in Norwegian). Norwegian Directorate for Cultural Heritage. Retrieved 2 January 2021.
4. "Valgkirkene". LokalHistorieWiki.no (in Norwegian). Retrieved 2 January 2021.
5. "Om valgene". Valgene i 1814 (in Norwegian). Arkivverket. Retrieved 2 January 2021.